


Rose's Early Poem and its Ensuing Controversy

by mericorn



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Gen, Mother-Daughter Relationship, Pre-Sburb/Sgrub
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 08:36:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/620167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mericorn/pseuds/mericorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Rose, at the tender age of four, and her mother, at the tender age of Adult, do not see eye to eye.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rose's Early Poem and its Ensuing Controversy

**Author's Note:**

  * For [estuary](https://archiveofourown.org/users/estuary/gifts).



“Mom.” Rose held a sheet of paper in her chubby hands and thrust it upwards in her mother’s general direction. “Could you read this?”

“Of course sweetie!” Her mother sat at the breakfast table, lazily drinking an Irish Coffee and reading the newest tabloid. _Aliens Take Over the Airwaves_ screamed the headline. She graciously took the paper and held it close to her face. Her eyes widened and she gripped the page harder, enrapt with the writing. “Rose, I- I- “ She neatly folded the page, grabbed her purse, stuffed the page inside, stooped down to put her hand on Rose’s shoulder, and kissed her on the forehead. “Momma has to go now, okay dear? Be a good girl and stay out of trouble while I’m gone, okay?” After that, she quickly rose to her feet and dashed out the front door, slamming it shut, her heels clicking down the front steps. 

Rose frowned. The shadows in the corners of the room grew larger, more menacing. She looked at the clock but it held no answer to when her mother would return. She sighed, and began reading _Spot, the Rascally Dog_ , again, for the tenth time that week.

  


Meanwhile, at the nearest craft store ten miles away, Rose’s mother grew increasingly impatient at a sales employee in the framing section. 

“No, no, no!” She slammed her fist on the counter, shaking her head. “I need something much better, much more luxurious for my daughter’s poem!”

“Ma’am,” the disgruntled and underpaid employee replied, “These are all the frames we have. If you’d like something else, we can special order it for you online. Have you checked our website?”

“Did you know that my daughter is a genius?” Ms. Lalonde continued, unaware of the change in topic. “She is already writing her first poem at the age of four. Here, let me read it to you!” She cleared her throat and recited from the lavender scrawl:

  


_Jaspers is my Friend_

_by Rose_

_Cat, Cat, The Cat is black._

_Meow, Meow, Cats go meow._

_Purr, Purr, Cats say purr._

_Fun, Fun, Cats are fun._

  


“My daughter is so talented! And an _artiste_ too! She even drew a picture of our cat!” Rose’s mother squealed. She then turned to the employee again and stared him down. “And I won’t accept anything but the absolute best for my daughter.”

“Well ma’am, how much are you willing to pay? We have more frames in the back, but they get quite expensive,” said the employee.

“I am willing to pay ANYTHING for my daughter. My daughter is the best, and therefore deserves the best. I will accept no substitutions!”

“All right, I’ll take some frames out from the back and you can decide on them.”

After three grueling hours of taking out almost every single frame from the storage space, the disgruntled employee finally lugged out the biggest, most ostentatious frame the store had to offer. “Okay.” He heaved it onto the counter with an anguished grunt. “This is the most expensive frame we have in the store. It runs well over $10,000. To be honest, I’m not sure why we have it.”

“Oh, it’s…” Ms. Lalonde traced the edge of the gold and silver frame and the many jewels of all cuts embedded in it: amethysts, topazes, aquamarines, sapphires. They gleamed under the buzzing incandescent lights. The frame would have looked at place surrounding an icon of the Virgin. At around three feet by four feet, it was much bigger than the top of the fridge. It was perfect. “Yes, I’ll take it!”

“What, really!?” 

She shoved her pink purse at him. “Yes, take my money! I don’t care how much it costs!”

“Do you want the framing done here?”

Rose’s mother gave him a side eye and laughed. “Yes, of course I do.”

“That’ll be extra, just so you know.”

She shrugged exaggeratedly. “What do I care?”

After Ms. Lalonde paid, the disgruntled employee took ten minutes carrying the frame out to her car. He took the frame to the farthest parking space where Ms. Lalonde had her car, carefully stuffed it in the trunk, and then he doubled over gasping. She waved to him as she got into the car, and proceeded to narrowly miss him driving out of the parking lot. While he still did not make enough money at his job, he got the biggest commission of his life that pay period. 

Before Ms. Lalonde could return home with her bounty, she needed to get a new fridge, one that was big enough to hold the frame. As it turned out at the home improvement store, the largest fridges had top doors only as big as the frame. But then she had a brilliant idea! Wouldn’t Rose be proud to have as brilliant a mother as her?

  


Rose gaped slack-jawed at the crane in front of the mansion. Her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets at the sight. 

Her mother jubilantly bounded up to her. “Hi sweetie, guess what Momma bought? Momma bought a new frame for your poem and picture! The very best frame available! Oh, but then Momma thought to herself, if Momma gets a frame this great and big, Momma should buy a new refrigerator! The very top of the line and biggest! The new fridge is the very newest model and is very energy efficient! It had to be so large because the frame wouldn’t fit otherwise on the top door. I had it welded to the top so I, and everyone else who comes to the house, can admire your skills at writing and drawing! Oh, aren’t you happy with Momma sweetie?”

Rose’s eyes welled up, her nose began to drip. She sniffed and rubbed her eyes.

“Sweetie?” Her mother knelt down. The wind picked up and her pink scarf waved in the breeze. “What’s wrong? I thought you would like this.”

The crane carefully placed the fridge inside the house through the now open sunroof. It landed with a small _thud_. 

Rose began bawling and ran inside the house, her little legs deftly running from the grassy and wooded front yard up the front stairs and past the door.

“Rose, wait! It’s dangerous in there! They’re doing work!” She chased after her daughter into the house. Rose bounded up the stairs to her room but her mother caught her and swept her up in her arms. Rose’s mother scowled and looked her in the eye. “Rose! Don’t run where work is being done! Especially where big machines are!”

Rose bawled. Thick, fat tears rolled down her face and viscous snot bubbled out of her nose. She screamed and her face grew red, trying to struggle out of her mother’s grip unsuccessfully. 

“Rose, no. Rose what’s wrong? Tell Momma what’s wrong. Tell Momma.” Rose continued to squirm, pushing her mother away. Ms. Lalonde squeezed her close until Rose rested her chin on her mother’s shoulder. She rubbed her on the back and rocked her in her arms, whispering “Shh,” until Rose was reduced to just sniffing every couple of seconds. Rose’s mother calmly set her down on the stairs while saying to her, “Why don’t you stay here and Momma will bring up the paper and read to you, okay?” 

Rose silently nodded. 

Ms. Lalonde quickly went down the steps into the breakfast nook and retrieved her newspaper from the table. Workmen were shuffling every which way as she dodged through them. From the dark hardwood floor, she ascended the freestanding stairs, wooden and currently bathed in unfiltered sunlight. Rose sat at the very top. She looked extraordinarily small in the vast expanse of the room. As she reached the top, Rose’s mother sat down next to Rose, then plopped her onto her lap. Rose looked up a little vacantly at her mother but also made a small smile.

“All right, where would you like me to start, sweetie?”

“Start on the front page. Please.”

“Good choice! Should I read the headline article? That’s the story that starts above the fold of the newspaper and is usually the biggest.”

“Yeah.” Rose settled comfortably against her mother. 

“Aliens Take Over the Airwaves!” Ms. Lalonde recited as if an eleven o’ clock news anchor for Conspiracy News Network.

Rose giggled. Her mother laughed too.

She gasped. “Oh no!”

Rose furrowed her brow and looked up at her mother. Her mother looked down at her and gave a small smile.

“Well you see Rose, most of the time Momma makes smart decisions about money, but not all the time. But don’t worry.” She winked at Rose. “Momma knows a way out of this!”

They ate ramen for the next two months.


End file.
